So you need to get somewhere, but maybe you don’t want to take your car.

Perhaps you grab your smartphone, tap your Uber app and hail a ride.

Now imagine you’re living in Harrisburg in 1916 and the primary mode of transportation, the trolley, is behind schedule or unavailable, say, because of a strike.

Perhaps you’d hail a jitney bus. And likely contract “jitneyitis.”

These small buses were the Uber and Lyft of their day: disruptors that challenged established means of transportation. Just as the rise of ride-hailing services is cutting into the taxi and vehicle-rental industries, so jitneys drew business away from streetcars.

The Harrisburg Railways Co., which operated the trolley system in the city, fought back.

Here are four facts about the rise of jitneys in Harrisburg in the early 1900s, according to newspaper accounts at the time.

Jitneys had advantages over trolleys

Jitneys were truncated buses that cost a nickel, or “jitney,” to ride. Introduced in Los Angeles in 1914, jitneys soon spread to cities across the United States.

The first jitney in Harrisburg started operating in March 1915, and it didn’t take long for the buses to catch on in the city. A month later, a Telegraph headline said “‘Jitneyitis’ has hit Harrisburg.”

Jitneys had several advantages over trolleys. For example, they weren’t bound by tracks or fixed routes, so they could go virtually anywhere. And they weren’t burdened with regulations, except for traffic rules.

Trolley company fights back

It didn’t take long for the Harrisburg Railways Co. to target jitneys as a threat.

By September 1915, more than 270 jitney licenses had been obtained in the city, and the streetcar company said the buses contributed to its drop in dividends.

The trolley company ran a series of ads attacking jitneys. Its main issue was that jitneys were not regulated.

In the ads, the trolley company listed the regulations imposed upon it, including a 3 percent tax.

The company appealed to residents’ pocketbooks. The wear and tear on the roads caused by the increase in jitney traffic would require a boost in taxes, the company claimed.

It also used fear. In pointing out that jitneys weren’t required to have interior lights, one ad said the buses had “no protection against the possible insult or mistreatment on the part of the unprincipled chap who has a perfect right to climb into (a jitney’s) dark interior in close proximity with decent, law-abiding citizens – YOU, your wife or your daughter.”

In late 1915, the City Council passed an ordinance requiring jitney owners to file a $2,000 surety bond in case of crashes or lawsuits.

The ordinance caused many jitneys to go out of business.

Streetcar strike revived jitneys

Ironically, the Harrisburg Railways Co. helped revive jitneys.

In July 1916, streetcar workers went on strike, demanding higher wages and the recognition of their union, among other things. The strike turned violent at times, resulting in arrests.

With the main mode of mass transit suspended or curtailed, residents turned to jitneys.

Striking trolley workers even acted as dispatchers for the jitneys, many of which were operating illegally.

Mayor Ezra Meals relaxed requirements to operate jitneys during the strike because of the public’s demand.

Complaints arose that the buses were overcharging, unsafe and indecent. In some crowded jitneys, women were forced to sit on men’s laps.

Later, however, the state Public Service Commission ruled that jitneys must file certificates of public conveyance and provide a fixed route.

Jitneys contributed to trolleys’ demise

Despite regulations, jitneys were a potent force (and some continued to operate illegally): They contributed to the decline of trolleys and paved the way for larger buses.

In an open letter in April 1939 explaining why it wanted to abandon its trolley line Middletown and Highspire and replace it with buses, the Harrisburg Railways Co. said:

“As long as people in our outlying communities prefer or can afford to drive their own cars … as long as the ‘buddy’ cars and illegally operated jitneys are patronized in preference to regulated, insured, inspected, safe public vehicles, there is little reason for continuing public mass transportation.”

Three months later – 80 years ago this month – the last trolley ran in Harrisburg.